Oren portrayed Obama as non-supportive of Israel: "..zero tolerance for construction of settlements and roadblocks.."

Update via the Cable, here

Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth writes Wednesday, that the Oren appointment is being considered but not a done deal:

A new source of tension has arisen between the Obama administration and Israel, this time concerning the decision of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to appoint Michael Oren as Israel's ambassador to Washington.  A senior source close to the administration said last night: "In light of the harsh criticism that Oren directed at Obama in the election campaign, appointing him as ambassador is an odd choice."

   During the campaign, Oren published an article in which he tried to answer the question who would be better for Israel as a US president: Obama or John McCain.  Obama's aides said that in the guise of an academic study, Oren conveyed his personal opinions and published things that portrayed Obama as non-supportive of Israel.  Oren wrote that the Obama administration would present a completely new initiative based on zero tolerance for construction in settlements and roadblocks, an initiative that would be founded on the assessment that the road to Baghdad and Tehran passes through Bethlehem and Nablus.

   Oren wrote further that McCain would not disrupt the United States' relations with Israel, whereas Obama could be expected to deviate from the alliance ....

Oren is close to a series of figures in the previous Republican administration, and has held meetings with figures in the campaign staff of former Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain. ... Oren's associates say that he is a very charismatic person, who is also close to many Democratic senators.  They say that Obama himself declared that he had read Oren's book.  ...

   Meanwhile, sources in the Prime Minister's Bureau confirmed that Oren was one of the candidates for the post but not the only one, and clarified that no decision had been made.  Netanyahu met this week with one of the candidates, Dr. Dore Gold, and said that he still considered him a leading candidate for the post.  Additional candidates are Zalman Shoval and Alon Pinkas.